State DOT will study crash history of Portland Avenue: Residents hope findings will result in speed limit reduction of 10 mph

Tuesday

Nov 19, 2013 at 3:15 AM

By Crystal A. Weyerscweyers@fosters.com

ROLLINSFORD — At the request of residents, an administrator for the state Department of Transportation’s Bureau of Traffic will conduct a speed study and evaluation of crash history, road geometry and conflict points on Portland Avenue.

Several residents are hoping the study will result in a 10-mph speed limit reduction on that stretch of roadway at the point where it is currently 55 mph, but getting there will take time.

The concern about the speed limit was raised at a Road Safety Meeting requested by residents following the fatal accident of out-of-state newlywed Leah Fonda Preiss earlier this summer. Police Chief Robert Ducharme said selectmen advised the residents that changing the speed limit on that section of Route 4 was a decision to be made by the state, as it is a state regulated roadway.

“The speed limit is 35 at both ends and 55 in the center,” Ducharme said previously, “Residents feel 55 is too fast since there are several dangerous intersections, residential and commercial driveways. It is often compared to the Spaulding Turnpike for its 55 mph speed limit.”

Bill Lambert of the DOT said, “Concerns like this are not uncommon.”

During discussions with the handful of residents who spoke at the Road Safety Meeting Monday night, Lambert had to remind them that speed limits are set in conjunction with state statutes and road studies.

Lambert said there are two different types of state speed limits — statutory and state speed zones based on speed studies.

“Statutory speed limits are pretty well defined,” he said. “It’s 30 mph in business or commercial districts or urban residential districts and 35 mph in rural residential districts. It’s 65 on a divided highway and 55 everywhere else.”

He said 55 mph is the default speed limit, but that in New Hampshire drivers are expected, by law, to drive at a speed “reasonable and prudent to current conditions.”

“The posted speed sign is always the upper limit,” he said, although many of the residents made the comment that drivers routinely exceed posted limits.

A resident of Baer Road, which branches off Portland Avenue, said, “Everyone drives really reckless here. I’ve been flipped off by more people here in the short time that I’ve lived here than I have combined in my life! They’re intimidating and reckless, agitated, in a hurry and impatient.”

The residents brought up the concern that although the Portland Avenue section of Route 4 has the same speed limit as the Spaulding Turnpike, it has 35 entrances and exits branching off it in the form of driveways or other roads. Selectman Suzanne Huard mentioned that at least two additional driveway requests are being put before the Zoning Board soon.

One resident said if getting the speed limit changed was a matter of cost for the town he would “go out tomorrow and change the five to a four with a spray can.”

Lambert explained that when speed studies are done, road tubes are placed on the road to measure the speed of passing cars for about a day. The collected data typically creates a bell-curve with the few people who go much below the posted speed limit on one extreme and those who travel in excess on the other end. Those near the middle with the most data points represent the 85th percentile, or the speed that 85 percent of drivers travel on that road. That number is then used to set the speed limit, as that percentage of drivers are believed to be the “reasonable and prudent.”

“If the posted speed limit is reduced, it usually doesn’t change the speed. It just makes more violators,” said Lambert. “We have to be cautious about posting speeds when they’re not consistent with road studies. We want the officers to focus on the 15 percent who are not the reasonable and prudent rather than the 85 percent.”

Some residents shared their fears and the feeling that slowing down to turn onto their respective roads from Portland Avenue was like taking their lives into their hands.

One female resident said, “We’re asking you to look outside of the studies and statistics because we’re saying it’s dangerous.”

Lambert agreed to complete an evaluation, but that some requests brought up would need to be brought to the regional planning commission and that as winter is coming the road tube study may have to wait until spring.

Resident Joe Caouette said, “This has been coming for a long time. This is not a Spaulding Turnpike and there’s going to be another serious accident.”